In Parsippany, N.J., three kind sanitation workers helped a distressed woman find two rings that were accidentally tossed out: her husband’s diamond wedding ring and her engagement ring.

“It took more than 45 minutes of digging, but we found them,” said sanitation official Michael Brotons, who recovered them with co-workers Edgar Lopez and Joseph McGee.

Bridget Pericolo, 77, recalled that the rings had been sitting in a paper cup before they were mistakenly tossed in the trash Monday morning by her 78-year-old husband, Angelo.

“I figured I would take them upstairs later,” said Pericolo. “He saw the cup on the table and just threw it out because he thought it was empty.”

Pericolo immediately alerted township sanitation officials of the incident, but the elderly couple, now in their 56th year of marriage, had to wait until the truck finished its route before a comprehensive search could be undertaken.

Finally, around 1 in the afternoon the Pericolos were able to sort through the truck’s trash haul at a transfer station on Edwards Road.

Brotons, Lopez and McGee had very to go buy in finding the rings. All they knew was that the garbage bag was about 32 gallons, and it was tied by hand, rather than secured with a wire or plastic tie. “But after 10 to 11 tons of garbage, every black bag looks the same,” Brotons said.

Pericolo was overjoyed when the diamond wedding ring fell out of a garbage bag the workers began to open. The engagement ring was discovered in the bag soon after. “I just kept praying,” Pericolo said. “It was a miracle.”

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